Photo from www.brooks.ca

By Chris Brown

Brooks begins construction on municipally co-owned fibre optic network

Apr 27, 2022 | 1:32 PM

BROOKS, AB – Construction begins this week on BrooksNET, a state-of-the-art fibre optic network that will be accessible to every property in the community.

Mayor John Petrie says this is major step forward and will “future-proof” the city, making it a more attractive home for people and businesses.

“We have to be competitive with the major centres, like all over North America. And one thing we learned from the pandemic is that you don’t have to be on the 23rd floor of an office in Calgary to work anymore,” he says. “You can work in a place like Brooks as long as we’re able to deliver that high-speed internet and that’s our plan here. You know we looked at it as helping our local residents and also as a business opportunity to attract more investment into the community here.”

On the BrooksNET website, the city says this will make Brooks one of the first 10 gigabyte per second communities in rural Canada.

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The city has invested $5.3 million in the project and will own the backbone of the network. Community Network Partners will invest $15.7 million to connect properties to the backbone.

This sort of investment is no different than building a new road or a new arena, Petrie says, and there are benefits from it down the road.

“They call broadband sort of the major infrastructure of our time. We need good broadband we need good internet. So it not only helps in attracting new people but we also want to keep people here too so they don’t leave the community so they’re able to work here too,” he says.

Most of the city is expected to be covered by the end of the year with additional construction and necessary equipment testing happening in 2023.

The city has been broken up into seven service zones and construction will occur one zone at a time, starting with Zone D.

Image Courtesy City of Brooks

Crews can install up to 600 metres of cable per day. They will move quickly through neighbourhoods and may only be in an area for one day before moving to the next location.

According to the city, the majority of construction will occur in back alleys and utility right-of-ways, but there are some instances when the drilling will be done along the street. Drivers are encouraged to watch for signage and obey all traffic detours and laws, particularly in construction zones when workers are present.